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Australia's Antarctic research stations (Macquarie Island as well as Davis, Casey & Mawson stations on the Antarctic mainland) are part of a Wide Area Network linked to the Australian Antarctic Division's headquarters in Kingston, Tasmania by permanent satellite links collectively known as ANARESAT. These are INTELSAT standard F2 earth stations that carry 64kpbs IBS data links & 385kbps IBS digital telephone/fax circuits.. State of the art Frame Relay technology is used on the data links to provide 4 tie lines per station as well as access to computing facilities & the internet. Each person on station has an email account and 24 hour access to the internet which are used extensively for communicating with both head office & family back in Australia.
Macquarie Island's link is via an INTELSAT satellite over the Pacific Ocean to Oxford Falls Earth Station near Sydney, where the circuits enter the Australian network. Davis, Casey & Mawson stations on the Antarctic mainland all operate via the Indian Ocean satellite & are linked to Gnangarra Earth Station, just north of Perth, Western Australia.
The protective radomes are designed to withstand wind gusts of up to 320 kmph and protect the dish from the high winds & heavy precipitation prevalent at Macquarie Island & the other stations. The small white dome to the left is an emergency standby INMARSAT terminal & the rather large fence is to stop curious elephant seals from damaging the radome structure. |
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